JUDGE’S COMMENTS

It’s our beautiful America (to je krasna Amerika)

David Barkemeyer

Milam County Judge

What a treat this weekend to sit in the Performing Arts Center at Yoe High School and listen to the music of the Donnie Wavra Orchestra from Columbus, Texas, perform some good ol’ polka music; brought back many a fond memory of my growing up years here in Milam County.

Sometimes they would sing one verse of a song in the native tongue of the ancestors of many of us in the audience and then the next verse in American English.

Al fred Vrazel and Janice Marek, two of our local musicians who played with the band Sunday sang one song this way ca lled “ K rasna A mer ika” or “Beautiful America.”

The words of the song went like this:

Beautiful, yes it’s beautiful (Krasna, to je krasna).

It’s our beautiful America. (To je krasna Amerika)

In America there’s everything grand (U Amerika je svoboda).

Good folks, good cheer is always on hand (Uroda zem je dobra).

Beautiful, yes it’s beautiful (Krasna, to je krasna).

It’s our beautiful America. (To je krasna Amerika).

In America we’re happy to be, To work, to plan, to know that we’re free,

Beautiful, yes it’s beautiful,

It’s our beautiful America.

I remember my grandpas telling me about how their dads (my great grandpas) came over in the mid 1800s leaving their families behind until they could make enough money here in America to bring their wives and children over too.

At the historical marker dedicat ion ceremony last week at Apache Pass, Ray Ochoa, a descendant of the Apaches who now lives in the Thrall area was telling the group there about the history of his people and described how his ancestors came across from Siberia through Alaska and down the continent and into this area.

Rafael Cruz, father of Senator Ted Cruz, was telling his story to a group over in Franklin of fleeing from the oppression in Cuba when Castro took control of the country.

He told of how Castro promised hope and change to the people but promptly began instituting socialism and then systematically eliminated freedom by such means as eliminating reference to God in all government and public affairs, by confiscating arms, instituting socialized medicine, by controlling housing, and otherwise taking control of peoples’ lives, causing people to be dependent on government. People come to America to be free from government control. Let’s not forget the foundation “Beautiful America” is built on. These early Czech and German immigrants sang of work and planning.

Mr. Cruz told of his young son Ted memorizing the Constitution of the United States at an early age. No wonder he’s so aggressively fighting socialized medicine in the Senate as he’s heard his father tell the story of what happened in Cuba.

These immigrants knew how good it was to be in America; are we who are second, third and fourth generation Americans forgetting what it takes to remain free? dbarkemeyer@milamcounty.net